The present invention relates to an automatic shutdown control apparatus for a vehicular internal combustion engine. Particularly, it relates to an automatic shutdown control apparatus and automatic shutdown control method for a vehicular internal combustion engine, which automatically shuts down the internal combustion engine in the case when the vehicle is standing still and the engine is in a predetermined operating state.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 6-257483 discloses an automatic shutdown control apparatus which automatically shuts down an internal combustion engine in the case where an automatic shutdown condition is satisfied after start-up of the internal combustion engine mounted on a vehicle, based on the operating states of the vehicle and internal combustion engine, and automatically starts the internal combustion engine by driving an electric motor in the case where an automatic start-up condition is satisfied. This apparatus inhibits automatic shutdown of the internal combustion engine in the case where the driving distance of the vehicle is less than a predetermined distance after the automatic start-up condition was satisfied and the internal combustion engine was automatically started up. The use of such a structure can prevent automatic start-up and automatic shutdown of the internal combustion engine from being repeated frequently due to traffic jams or the like and can reduce the battery power consumption to prevent draining the battery.
In the case where starting and stopping of a vehicle are repeated frequently due to traffic jams or the like, for example, the driving distance from the start-up of the vehicle to the standstill location becomes shorter. That is, it takes a long time for the driving distance after the start-up of the internal combustion engine to become equal to or greater than a predetermined distance. In the apparatus of the aforementioned publication, therefore, opportunity for automatic shutdown of the internal combustion engine decreases in a traffic jam such that fuel consumption cannot be improved.